As we come to the final scheduled meeting of this Council term, I want to recognize every member of Council for their service to the District of Sooke.
Serving in elected office asks a great deal. Council members make decisions in public, work through competing priorities hear directly from residents when issues matter deeply, and give many hours beyond what is visible around this table.
On behalf of the organization, thank you to Mayor Tait and Councillors Beddows, Bateman, Haldane, McMath, Pearson and St-Pierre for your time and commitment to this community.
I want to particularly acknowledge Councillors Jeff Bateman and Megan McMath, who, along with Mayor Tait, will not be seeking another term.
Jeff, your attention to detail has been a hallmark of your contribution around this table. You have examined issues carefully, sought clarity and taken the time to understand what sits behind the decisions before Council. Your compassion and dedication to this community have been deeply valued.
Megan, your thoughtful questions and perspective have broadened conversations and encouraged Council and staff to consider issues from different angles. Your energy, curiosity, and care for the community have made a difference.
Thank you both for eight years of service, for your contributions around this table and for the time you have given to Sooke.
And Mayor Maja Tait, I want to take some additional time to recognize an extraordinary 18 years of service to the District of Sooke.
Eighteen years is difficult to summarize.
Perhaps one of the best reflections of those years is simply looking around this room tonight. We have representatives from the school district, including Chair Dowhy, Paul Block and Brian Jonker; community members, including Koshin Moonfist and Mary Dunn, whose contributions reflect the spirit of Sooke; and former colleagues, including Ebony Logins and Dana Lajeunesse, who have made time to be here.
And, of course, we are so grateful to have representatives from the T'Sou-ke Nation joining us as well.
The presence of those here speaks to the relationships Maja has built over many years and to the many people who have worked alongside her. Thank you for helping us recognize this moment.
Maja first joined Council in 2008, served two terms as Councillor and was elected Mayor in 2014. By the conclusion of this term, she will have served Sooke for 18 years and will be the longest-serving member of District of Sooke Council.
During that time, Sooke has changed considerably. So has the work of local government.
What has remained remarkably consistent is Maja’s belief that leadership is fundamentally about relationships.
She has spoken often about the people who helped shape her along the way.
The late John Horgan was one of those people. Their relationship grew beyond that of a Mayor and an MLA, and later a Premier, into a productive partnership for this community.
That partnership mattered as Sooke advocated for Highway 14 improvements, infrastructure and better access to health care closer to home.
Health care, in particular, has been one of Maja’s most steadfast commitments.
Beginning in 2014, she chaired the Sooke Region Primary Health Care Services Working Group and helped bring together the District, Island Health, local physicians and community partners around a shared goal: improving access to care in Sooke.
There have been moments of progress and moments requiring patience, but she has never lost sight of the principle behind that work—that people in Sooke deserve access to the care they need, closer to home.
That same determination has been evident in transportation advocacy.
Maja understood that advocacy is rarely one meeting or one letter. It is showing up again and again, building relationships, making the case and keeping Sooke’s needs visible until progress happens.
Another relationship that has held a particularly meaningful place in Maja’s service is Sooke’s friendship with Natori, Japan.
That connection reaches back more than two decades and deepened after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011, when people in Sooke rallied to support Natori.
In 2019, Maja brought forward the initiative to formalize that friendship, and this year she travelled to Natori to sign the Sister City agreement.
There is something fitting about seeing that relationship come full circle near the end of her term.
A testament to that relationship, our friends in Natori have also sent remarks to recognize Maja and this milestone. Their words are another reflection of a relationship that has grown across years, generations, and an ocean.
There are also people closer to home whose influence Maja has carried with her.
The late Councillor Brenda Parkinson was one of those people. Maja has spoken about Brenda’s commitment to keeping things local, creating an inclusive community, and drawing people into community life.
That spirit is reflected in Maja’s own belief that community is built by inviting people in and encouraging them to participate.
That invitation has extended, especially to young people as Maja always strived to recognize and honour that the decisions made today are the ones that future generations will inherit.
Through Council Club, students have been invited into Municipal Hall to ask questions, debate, vote and imagine Sooke’s future.
And here in this Chamber, two chairs - one representing Future Generations and one representing the Natural Environment - offer a quiet reminder that not everyone affected by a decision can appear before Council or cast a ballot.
Some interests require us to deliberately make room for them.
That may be one of Maja’s most lasting contributions to the culture of this Council: the reminder to consider who is not in the room.
That perspective has also been shaped by her role as a mother.
During her first term as Mayor, Maja and her husband Alex welcomed their son, Ewan. Over the years, we have watched Ewan grow alongside this community.
The idea of “future generations” became something very real and personal - and that perspective can be seen in improved routes to school, parks, trails, natural spaces and opportunities for young people to participate in civic life.
Maja’s understanding of place has also meant recognizing that Sooke’s story does not begin with the municipality.
Throughout her service, she has worked to build relationships with local Nations and through the Te’mexw Treaty Advisory process.
Those relationships remind local government of the importance of listening, learning and understanding that reconciliation is built through sustained relationships and action over time.
As CAO, I have also experienced Maja’s leadership from inside the organization.
Maja, you lead with heart. You care deeply about this community and about the people who serve it, and that has been evident in how you have approached your role.
Sooke is my first appointment as a Chief Administrative Officer, and your support, perspective and guidance have meant a great deal to me.
I have also valued seeing the relationships that sustain public service over many years. Maja shared one of those relationships with the late Langford Councillor Lillian Szpak - a colleague and friend with whom she served regionally for many years.
Their friendship was a reminder that, behind the meetings, decisions and public roles, local government is also built on trust, respect and relationships that endure beyond the council table.
Within the organization, I have seen Maja listen carefully, ask thoughtful questions, challenge assumptions, and make room for professional advice to be given openly and honestly.
She has created space for staff to contribute their expertise, learn and grow.
For me, that has been an important example of leadership: understanding that experience is not only something you bring to the table, but something you use to help others find their place at it.
And perhaps that is the thread connecting so much of Maja’s 18 years: relationships.
With colleagues and community members.
With other governments.
With local Nations.
With Natori.
With staff.
With children and future generations.
All of you around this table have given a significant part of your lives to this community.
And for Jeff, Megan and Maja, your years in elected office have included extraordinary circumstances: a global pandemic, periods of rapid growth and change, community emergencies and difficult decisions alongside moments of real progress and celebration.
Through it all, you kept showing up.
Sooke is a different community today than when each of you was first sworn in, and while there is more work ahead, much has changed.
Public-safety services have grown.
Transportation infrastructure has expanded.
Health-care services are stronger, with more work underway.
Trails connect more neighbourhoods.
Relationships with neighbouring Nations continue to deepen.
And young people have a place in this Chamber.
Years of public service cannot be measured only by projects completed, policies adopted or positions held.
They can also be measured by the people encouraged, the relationships built, the doors opened, and the community left for those who come next.
Before I close, I want to return to where I began.
To every member of this Council: thank you.
Whatever the outcome on October 17, the work undertaken around this table during your term becomes part of Sooke’s history. Each of you has brought different experiences to that work.
To those seeking another term and candidates running, thank you for stepping forward to support Sooke.
And to Jeff, Megan and Maja, thank you for the contribution each of you has made and for the years you have given to public service.
It has been a privilege to serve alongside all of you.
And given how much I have spoken about community, service and those who come next, it feels especially fitting that the final part of this recognition belongs to some of Sooke’s young people.
On behalf of the District of Sooke, we have certificates of recognition for each of our outgoing members, and I would like to invite some of Sooke’s young people to present them. If Councillors Batemen and McMath, along with Mayor Tait could please step forward...
Maja, there is one more piece of this recognition for you from our friends with the Poirier Pride Club....
And finally, more fitting than my voice, we have a special message from some other young people in our community.
